Beer Styles

Apart from classifying beer in to types, beer can also be classified further into beer styles. This means that the beer is further identified using appearance, aromas, ingredients and production methods among other factors. There are hundreds of beer styles that vary depending on the specialty grains and ingredients used by brewers to add color and flavor to the brew. Below are some of the most popular beer styles in the US.

Beer Styles: A description of a few of the most popular styles

American Amber Ale

Also known as Red Ale, this is commonly used to refer to any ale beer that is lighter than dark ale. These beers can range from orange to deep red in color and have alcoholic contents of 4.5-6%. They have roasted barley elements but the hop element can be low or high. Popular examples include the North Coast Red Seal Ale, Full Sail Amber Ale and Fat Tire Amber Ale.

Golden/Blonde

This style primarily originated from Germany. As the name suggests, beer made in this style are blonde to straw colored which also adds to the crispness and head retention. They can have hints of sweetness but they mostly have a citric or spicy refreshing taste and a nice dry finish. Popular examples of golden or blond ales in the US include the Shipyard Summer Ale, Redhook Blond Ale and Geary’s American Ale among others. They are mainly inspired by the German style kitsch ales.

Dark Beers

These are full bodied beers that vary in color from dark brown, black to opaque. The dark color of the beer is as a result of roasted malts and caramel or coffee. They can be sweet because of the presence of caramel in the ingredients and the hop bitterness is mostly moderate. Popular American Dark Lagers include the Lowenbrau Dark and Sleeman Original Dark.

American Stout

These are beers in the ale family. They range in color from dark brown to black owing to the chocolate and black roasted barley that are used in the fermentation process. They have an average to strong whiffs of roasted barley with rich tastes of roasted coffee or chocolate. Popular examples include the Chocolate Stout, Obsidian Stout, Double Shot – El Salvador Peaberry and Java Stouts.

American Pale Ale

Variations of the American pale ale beers can range from light, very pale golden to reddish amber. They are highly spiced and have distinct bitter/citric tastes. They are medium bodied with alcoholic contents that range from 5.5% to 7.5 %. Popular varieties of the American pale ale include the Two Hearted Ale, Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale, Big Eye IPA and the Titan IPA.

Thank you for reading through our different liquor styles.

We included a list of different beer styles to educate our customers about the difference between all the different beers on the market today. The biggest differences can include appearance, flavor, ingredients, production method, history, or origin.